Iran-Contra defendant John M. Poindexter charged that the legal strategy pursued by former President Ronald Reagan to quash a subpoena for his diaries was calculated to avoid political criticism. Poindexter's lawyers challenged both Reagan and President Bush to invoke executive privilege in their attempts to quash subpoenas for the former President's diaries and papers.

John M. Poindexter took issue Tuesday with critics of his Pentagon efforts to develop new data scanning systems and an online futures market for flushing out terrorists and predicting Middle East developments, saying the programs had fallen victim to ignorance, distortion and Washington's "highly charged political environment."

John M. Poindexter, President Reagan's former national security adviser, said Friday he does not believe Reagan's statement that he would not have approved the diversion of profits from the Iranian arms sale to the Nicaraguan resistance.

The Supreme Court let stand Monday a ruling that freed former White House National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter from his five felony convictions in 1990 in the Iran-Contra scandal. The justices, without comment, declined to overturn an appellate court ruling that had reversed Poindexter's criminal convictions on grounds that his immunized testimony to Congress was used against him improperly.

The Justice Department raised the possibility Wednesday that it might challenge a federal judge's ruling that former President Ronald Reagan's notes and diaries on Iran-Contra events can be subpoenaed for the trial of his former national security adviser, John M. Poindexter. Department lawyers are reviewing the 67-page ruling of U.S. District Judge Harold Greene, said David Runkel, the department's chief spokesman.

Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, President Reagan's former national security adviser, has delayed his scheduled Oct. 1 retirement from the Navy and does not expect to step down until December, Pentagon sources said Wednesday. Poindexter, 51, is continuing work as a special assistant to the chief of naval operations.

The Bush Administration said Wednesday that it will not seek deletions from the videotaped testimony former President Ronald Reagan gave for the Iran-Contra trial of his national security adviser, John M. Poindexter. The Administration's statement in a court filing that it "does not request such deletions" indicates that the tape is ready to be played at Poindexter's trial, scheduled to begin on March 5 in federal court.

Independent prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh asked a federal judge to dismiss the most serious Iran-Contra charges against retired Adm. John M. Poindexter, Oliver L. North's former White House boss. Walsh told Judge Harold Greene at a hearing that he was trying to avoid delaying Poindexter's trial over use of sensitive national security secrets by dropping charges of conspiracy to divert funds from U.S. arms sales to Iran, theft of government property and fraud.

The judge in John M. Poindexter's Iran-Contra case on Thursday ordered a hearing on whether the former national security adviser may introduce evidence that covert aid to Nicaraguan rebels was legal. U.S. District Judge Harold Greene scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday to discuss whether there was valid evidence that Poindexter could use to defend the charge that he obstructed congressional inquiries into whether National Security Council aide Oliver L.

As part of their defense strategy, attorneys for former Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega hope to convince jurors at his federal court trial that their client was a good friend and ally of the United States.

The ruling Friday that overturns the criminal convictions of former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter marks the fourth time in four years that the U.S. appeals court in Washington, now dominated by appointees of former President Ronald Reagan, has undercut the prosecution of former Reagan aides. In each instance, the rulings came on a 2-1 vote, with two Reagan appointees forming the majority and a Democratic appointee dissenting. The 11-member U.S.

The conviction of John M. Poindexter on five felony charges in the Iran-Contra scandal was overturned Friday by an appellate court on the same grounds on which it had thrown out the conviction of Oliver L. North, who worked for Poindexter in the Ronald Reagan White House. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S.

John M. Poindexter's lawyer accused the government Thursday of reneging on a pledge to the former national security adviser not to use his congressional testimony at his trial. "The government made a solemn promise to Adm. Poindexter that his immunized testimony before Congress would not be used against him, (then it) used tainted witnesses and tainted evidence," Keith A. Jones told a three-judge appeals court panel.

Former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter asked a federal appeals court to overturn his five felony convictions for lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. His attorneys contended that prosecutors had produced insufficient evidence to sustain the convictions. They also argued that prosecutors failed to prove that references to testimony that Poindexter gave to Congress under a limited grant of immunity had not unfairly influenced jurors and witnesses.

I have followed with interest the letters and editorials on graffiti. In fact, The Times did a story on me and my graffiti-plagued wall. No mention seems ever to be made of the solution. There is a San Fernando Valley company called Graffiti Prevention Systems. Phone: (800) 247-3395. This company completely solved the problem. I hired a painter to paint out all graffiti while their serviceman stood by. The moment the paint dried the serviceman sprayed on a coat of thin invisible wax.

John M. Poindexter, the highest-ranking former official convicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison after a judge said that he had sought to "nullify" the actions of Congress and had shown no remorse. The former national security adviser in the Ronald Reagan White House was the only one of seven convicted in the scandal to receive a prison term.

The Founding Fathers, who knew much about history and quite enough about human nature, intuitively understood the risks of concentrating too much political power in too few hands. The safeguard they devised, a foundation stone and among the enduring glories of American constitutionalism, was to disperse authority among the different interdependent branches of government.